All about Bob

Tuesday

Jul 30, 2013 at 12:01 AMJul 30, 2013 at 5:30 AM

Andy Vineberg @ADVineberg

There are probably dozens of classic rock acts out there giving fans exactly what they want in concert — note-for-note renditions of their most popular songs or, as Tom Petty once described it, “the greatest hits, played faster.”

And then there’s Bob Dylan.

That Dylan doesn’t cater his live sets to the whims of the public isn’t exactly breaking news. He’s been defying expectations for, oh, just short of 50 years, ever since famously going electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.

These days, it seems, the fans are almost an afterthought — barely acknowledged by the man onstage. More significantly, the radically rearranged songs are often unrecognizable, at least to casual listeners.

On one hand, this can be incredibly frustrating.

On the other ... it’s Bob freakin’ Dylan.

At the final East Coast stop of the AmericanaramA Festival during a rainy Sunday night in Camden, Dylan was only the third-most crowd-pleasing act on his own bill, delivering a far-less engaging set than either My Morning Jacket or Wilco. These are, without a doubt, two of the best American rock bands of the past 20 years, and they’re even better live.

Dylan, not so much.

And yet, there’s still an alluring mystique about him, an aura of greatness that continues to draw fans to this enigmatic genius whose onstage persona suggests quirky, absent-minded professor more than songwriting legend.

Fans such as the two 18-year-old girls who stood, pressed against the railing, for six-plus hours for the chance to see Dylan up close (although one’s physical attraction to the 72-year-old singer bordered on the creepy). Or the middle-aged woman, perhaps influenced by a certain illegal substance, who swayed through Dylan’s entire 90-minute set (security seemed far more concerned with cameras and cellphones than marijuana).

Even as Dylan plunked awkwardly at the piano or barked lyrics that deserved to be heard much clearer than they came across, it was impossible to take your eyes off him, this American treasure whose music has meant so much to so many over the last half-century.

Besides, for me, anything Dylan delivered Sunday night was gravy. My Morning Jacket and Wilco (as well as an enjoyable half-hour opening set from Ryan Bingham) had already made AmericanaramA one of the best concerts I’d ever attended; the chance to spend 90 minutes with Dylan only added to the overall experience.

Here are 10 other random thoughts about Dylan and the concert itself:

1. As I tailgated in the Susquehanna Bank Center parking lot in the middle of a monsoon Sunday afternoon, I made a list of five Dylan songs for the occasion: “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” “Buckets of Rain,” “Shelter From the Storm,” “Thunder on the Mountain” and “High Water (for Charley Patton).” He ended up performing “Hard Rain” and “High Water” during the show, the latter particularly appropriate, given the flooded roads near the amphitheater.

2. If you can do it, get yourself in the pit for a concert. Sure, it means standing for a long time, surrounded by sweaty, smelly people, but being that close to the stage adds so much to the overall concert experience. You can see every facial expression, every exchange between band members — it’s almost as if the performer is playing directly to you. (No media perks here, either; I was just lucky enough to land a pit ticket through Ticketmaster.)

3. Speaking of the performer’s expressions, were those actually smiles Dylan was wearing for much of the night, or just odd facial tics? Regardless, he definitely seemed to be enjoying himself.

4. He even ... almost ... danced. Or at least shuffled his shoulders. Somewhat. OK, so maybe Dylan doesn’t have the Moves Like Jagger, but there was definitely some movement going on as he stood center stage on opening numbers “Things Have Changed” and “Love Sick.”

5. Fans often complain about hearing new songs at concerts, but I’d argue Dylan actually sounds better on his recent material because the songs fit his voice better. The three tracks he performed from 2012’s “Tempest” were especially solid: the charming “Soon After Midnight” might have featured his best vocals of the night, and the generic blues number “Early Roman Kings” was far livelier in concert than on record (he also played “Duquesne Whistle” from the album).

6. Of the older tracks, the highlight for me was “Simple Twist of Fate.” The song gets me emotionally every single time — even in its reconfigured state.

7. The best part of Dylan mumbling lyrics and radically changing arrangements? You don’t have to worry about the drunk guys next to you trying to sing along.

8. It’s hard to be envious after getting so many hours of great music. But the biggest disappointment for me Sunday was not hearing Dylan cover “The Weight” by The Band with My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, as they did last week in shows in Virginia Beach and Hoboken.

9. We did get some pretty cool collaborations, though, including a couple of guys from Dawes (whose set at the adjacent XPoNential Festival was rained out) joining My Morning Jacket on a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Waiting on a Friend,” and Bingham and his band accompanying Wilco on “California Stars.”

10. No band in the world can shift as seamlessly between noisy, distorted alt-rock and rootsy Americana as Wilco, sometimes within the same song, as on its set-closing “Dreamer in My Dreams.” The raucous ending — Wilco’s entire set, really — left Dylan with a tough act to follow.

Doubtful that he actually cared.

Truth is, Dylan seemed oblivious to everything but the music he and his band were performing onstage. There was no reference to anything else — the rain, the other bands, the fans ... nothing but the songs.

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